If Manchester City fail to beat Arsenal on Sunday, it’s time to call the
engravers to get to work on the Premier League trophy.

Tense run-in: Roberto Mancini's side must win all their remaining games to retain any chance of catching Manchester UnitedPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Gary Lineker

11:45PM BST 07 Apr 2012

Roberto Mancini’s side must win all their remaining games to retain any chance of catching Manchester United. If I had to put my house on it, I’d back Sir Alex Ferguson claiming another title.

City’s time will come. I’ve no doubt in the coming years they’ll be champions if they can maintain their annual rate of improvement — and deal with the impact of Financial Fair Play — but they’re going to have to wait.

It won’t feel like much of a consolation, but the experience of their first genuine title challenge under a new regime will hold them in good stead next season. They’ve made great strides but, just as many have discovered before them, it’s the final step which is always the most awkward.

If there is one overriding factor, which has favoured Manchester United in these closing stages it’s their basic know-how throughout their club, starting at the top with their manager. Having been in this situation so often before under Ferguson, you can see how they ooze confidence while Manchester City have become increasingly anxious and liable to make more mistakes.

You see Ferguson in this situation with the experience and the knowledge of how to get his side across the line, while Mancini is an altogether different animal, prone to emotional outbursts and public criticism of the team.

It’s an easy trap to fall into to say the intensity of the situation has taken its effect on the Manchester City manager. It’s not as simple as that. As we saw when City were sweeping teams aside earlier in the season, Mancini’s defining characteristics were perceived as a strength.

The manner in which he dealt with the Carlos Tévez controversy, for example, earned him plenty of plaudits. Recently, his open criticism of individuals has been viewed more negatively. There’s only difference between then and now. City aren’t winning as many games, so Mancini’s methods come under greater scrutiny.

When you’re winning games, everyone thinks everything the manager says and does is fantastic. Then it goes the other way, and those earlier criticisms of players can backfire.

I’m not privy to the inner sanctum of City’s dressing room, but I do know players prefer criticism to be kept behind closed doors, otherwise it can have an impact on confidence.

All managers have different methods, and various ways to handle pressure situations, but there’s a broad rule. Players like managers who pick them, and they don’t like those who don’t. I’m sure Mancini’s popularity at City is divided along similar lines.

The best, most successful managers in the modern era are those who can keep a player happy even if he is not in the team. Given the size of the squads and the use of rotation nowadays, that’s tougher than it’s ever been.

It will feel worse for the City players because they know it was in their own hands not so long ago. I recall a situation at Everton, during the 1985-86 season, when we were neck-and-neck with Liverpool. A couple of draws and defeat to Oxford three games before the end cost us the title.

It was not a capitulation, far from it, just one unlucky night when we hit the post six times and couldn’t score, but the title was gone. It was a terrible feeling, but most of the Everton team had won the league the year before and made amends by winning it a year later.

For City’s players, that feeling of emptiness of losing to their closest rivals will be incomparable. They won’t be able to fill that void until they win a title.

They’ll feel they’ve squandered a huge lead but, regardless of the outcome, must use the season as a platform for more success.

The recent switch in momentum towards Old Trafford is more a sign of the real quality within both sides, which wasn’t accurately reflected at the start of the season.

When City enjoyed a blistering start, just like Spurs, we were probably sucked into thinking they were better than they actually are.

For a while it seemed they were running away with it, especially while Yaya Touré and David Silva were at their best, but the warning signs were still there. The Champions League performance was a disappointment, offering the first clues that the overall standard of the squad wasn’t as high as it seemed in the Premier League.

In recent weeks, those outstanding players, such as Touré and Silva, have been unable to exert the same influence on games, and that’s contributed to a decline in the team’s performances. Silva has lost his spark, while Toure — a beast of a midfielder — seems to have dipped since returning from the African Nations Cup.

A month ago those two led the candidacy for Player of the Year. All that’s done is prove how daft it is that the votes ar e cast so soon.

What matters isn’t how a player performed earlier in the season, but how they’re coping when the pressure is on, which is why you’d now look to someone such as Wayne Rooney as the most influential player of the season.

City have come unstuck because this is the first season they’ve discovered what’s needed to win a title. United are reaping the rewards of years of practice.